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Monday, January 9, 2012

Homemade Chinese Pork Jerky (Bak Kwa) 肉干

This is the 1st time I did Bak Kwa (Chinese Pork Jerky), amazing how easy to make this at home...Bak Kwa is a popular snack for Chinese New Year..

very easy, just blend minced meat and seasoning together

stage 1 ( bake till cooked and cut to desired size)

stage 2 ( grill over high heat till golden brown and slight burnt)

Do you want some?

Homemade Chinese Pork Jery (Bak Kwa) 肉干(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)*makes 9pcs, perfectly for a tray size 13”x13” (4mm height)450g minced pork (at least with 10% fat) 100g sugar1tbsp light soy sauce1/2tbsp Chinese rice wine 1/2tbsp fish sauce (updated on 29 Jan 2015, reduce to 1tsp if you feel the fish sauce taste too strong)1tbsp oyster sauce1tsp dark caramel soy sauce (updated on 20th Jan 2014, you may reduce to 1/2tsp as to get more light red colour of BK, and replaced with dark soy sauce or kicap manis if you can't find dark caramel soy sauce)1/8tsp Chinese five spices powder A dash of Pepper1/2tsp-3/4tsp salt or to taste (updated on 29 Jan 2015, add 3/4tsp taste better)2tbsp honeyMethod1. Put all ingredients in a big bowl and start mixing them with a pair of chopsticks. Blend and stir the mixture in one direction until the meat becomes gluey (Latest update on 18 Jan-very important to stir till gluey otherwise meat will break out). Store in the fridge for several hours.2. Spread the marinated minced pork thinly onto the baking tray (using fingers to spread).3. Bake at pre-heated oven at 160C for 20mins (Latest update on 18 Jan-15mins also good enough). Remove from oven. Increase the oven temperature to 240c.4. Wait to slightly cool, cut into your desired size and shape using scissor, knife or pizza cutter, place them in the same baking tray.5. Grill (top heat only) one side at 240C for 10mins, remove from oven, flip over another side, wait oven back to 240C and grill for 7mins or until golden brown with slight burnt.6. Once done, let it cool and enjoy!**you may store Bak Kwa (at stage 4) in the freezer for later consume. Defrost and grill (stage 5) before serve. It will be even taste perfect if you charcoal grill it. Adjust your oven temperature accordingly, you know your oven better !!

Hi Sonia, wow... you very hardworking ya, your bak kwa very impressive and looks extremely good. I got no chance to make this in my oven cos to I have to keep my baking utensil halah due to my malay relatives.Have a nice day.

Ooohh yes! I want some! These look fantastic! Better than some store bought ones. I can't wait to get a new oven as my old one here doesn't have a grill function. :(Who knew they're so easy to make! So why do they charge so much for it? Cheez. And this we can be sure it's good meat used. I'm always a little suspicious about the commercial meats.

Sonia, I was thinking of trying out this after walked pass the famous 林志原 stall at Chinatown. It's so exp! I even bought the minced meat but yet to find a recipe. I am so happy your sharing came right in time. Will give it a go and try out and keep u update. Many thanks Sonia! *kiss*

There look so good Sonia. Better looking than some store bought one. It is a good idea to make this yourself as it is healthier and you know what ingredients you put in there. Too bad I don't have the time to make any this year.

My husband loves Chinese pork jerkey. You even make this? You really have wide range of recipes Sonia! I'm not vegetarian but don't like jerky (not really sure why). But homemade must be so nice! Your family is so lucky you can cook everything!

Hi, I have been following your blog regularly for some time now... just love your recipes and photography. Did you notice your recipe section is slightly trancated at the right margin? Maybe you could adjust it?

Hi, What is the dark caramel sauce you used? Is it the same as sweet dark thick soy sauce? I live in USA and may have a little trouble getting the dark caramel sauce. And I really really miss bak kwa. Thank you for the recipe.

Hi Lynette & others, you can see which type of dark caramel sauce i used in the "ingredients" tab at the top of part of my blog. If you can not find this sauce, then i suggest you to change it to dark soy sauce or sweet dark thick soy sauce like what you proposed but you need to adjust the amount of the salt. I guess the taste will have slight difference if you change dark caramel sauce to others..

Anonymous, i did not ask which part they use to blend to minced meat, I will ask them next time. I think lean meat and pork fat combo is good enough!

Now, you really have tempted me with this bak kwa. It's been in my list to do for so so long already. YUmmmm.... Really can't wait to make the bak kwa .Hope you're going to have a wonderful weekend. More shopping or baking? hehe...CheersKristy

Thank you very much for the recipe. I made this today but instead of using pork, i used chicken. They are delicious and taste better than those I used to buy from KL, and my children love them lots! Once again, thanks for sharing. Yum...

I am from Australia, but first tried bak-kwa about ten years ago whilst visiting friends in Malaysia. I have been back many times since and always look forward to my fix (amongst many others...prawn mee, nasi lemak, roti chanai etc etc). But bak-kwa is not even available to buy in Brisbane. I was so excited to be referred to this recipe. The taste is very authentic. Didn't realise how simple it is to make too, as long as you have all those lovely asian sauces in the pantry! Terima Kasih!!!

Thanks for the recipe Sonia. I've tried it and it is definitely good, so I would recommend everyone else to try it. It's not difficult and the ingredients are easy to get. he only problem was that it was hard work stirring the meat until it is gluey. Also I think the bak kwa was too thick, so next time I am going to make it thinner. Tastes fantastic and my mom was commenting that it smells like heaven. lol.

Wow, I wished I saw this before CNY! I would have tried making some home-made ones! My family goes through each packet like water! And the queues at the bakwa stalls are so long each time! They look wonderful (and i'm sure tastes great)! I'll have to try this next year (or maybe sooner than that!)

Hi hananotenshi, you can check out the dark caramel sauce in the "ingredients" tab at the top. You can replace with dark soy sauce but you need to adjust the salt and light soy sauce amount. Hope this help.

I tried baking these, I place on the lower third rack of oven at 320F for 20min, then turn the heat up to 464F for 10minutes, the colour did not turn out like yours, or hard. It was soft, and the colour was the same as when u finished baking the 20min?

I've been looking for Bak Kwa in London for months but have not found any, so I started looking for a recipe but couldn't see one I liked until I found yours! I have made it today just tasted the finished product and it is absolutely amazing. I'm so impressed, it's just as good if not better than the stuff from Bee Cheng Hiang! Thanks so much. Do you have any recipes for making a chilli flavoured Bak Kwa?

I'm new to baking. I have tried to make it yesterday and surprisingly it looked alike though the taste could be improved for sure. Just wan to check for step 3, is it supposed to be under 'bake' or 'grill' function? When you said the meat needs to be gluey, can i use blender instead? Tks :)

Anonymous (may i know your name please..) refer to step 3, it supposed to bake but not grill. try not to use blender as i afraid the meat texture will become too fine. you just use chopstick or any wooden spatula to stir till gluey. Hope this helps.

Sonia, i have no grill function on my oven so i used the broil function instead. i put it on top rack but after first 4 minutes it starts to burn black. The taste of your Bak Kwa is so AMAZING! But my final product came out a failure on appearance.

Joy, it is actually dark caramel soy sauce, Hokkien called it as "O Tau Yu", you may refer the picture in my pantry page. Otherwise you may replace it with dark soy sauce, and adjust other seasonings a bit.

Just attempted and succeeded this an hour ago! Happy with the result. Texture came out great. I would probably add a little bit more honey for a sweeter taste on my next one. Thank you for sharing your recipe. I live in Australia; this means I have to learn to make these things myself!

Sigh! I did exactly what the recipe said but fail big time. It did not come out like your picture at all. it's burnt on the edge but inner area is still not char enough yet :( I dont know where is the fault !

Dear Sonia, thank you so much for this recipe. We live in the UK and bak kwa is very expensive. When our family come to visit us once in a blue moon they offer to bring us some but we always turn them down politely as we would feel bad if they get caught smuggling (it's illegal to bring in meat products from non-eu countries). Now we can enjoy super tasty bak kwa courtesy of you, guilt free. Even my very picky MIL said it was excellent. Thank you x million. You are a genius. SB

Eely, hahaha, are you Hokkien? O Dao Yu and Dao You are difference. O Dao Yu refer to dark caramel soy sauce (you can refer to the picture at the top page under my pantry) and Dao You refer to light soy sauce.

Can I check, if I replace the dark caramel sauce with dark soya sauce/kecap manis, may I know what are the amounts of the other ingredients I should adjust to? I cant find the dark caramel sauce in SGP. Do you know where I can find?

I would also like to check, how long can I keep the bak kwa? Must I keep in fridge or outside?

Hi Sonia. Love your recipes. I tired your Pork Jerky recently and my children loved it!. However, I have a query. The first time when I baked it, there were lots of juice from the meat. But for the second time, it was totally dry. The first time, i made it thicker while the second was really thin. I also used the same kid of meat for both and were bought fresh from the market. Is is suppose to be wet or dry? After baking, i mean. Thanks for sharing all your recipes! I am trying the pineapple tart and almond flakes today.

Hi Sonia,Just to let you know, I baked my bak kwa using an adapted version of your recipe last week, it was perfect! I have blogged in my blog and linked to your blog. Now gonna try baking 1.5 kg to bring back to Singapoer! Thanks so much. Btw, I have seen your recent pineapple tarts, so pretty, better than store-bought ones!

Bebe, i am not too sure what you said taste abit difference, if you intend to compare store bought BK, then it taste slight difference. I noticed honey also play important role here, try to get pure and better quality of honey.

Hi Sonia, I have tried ur pork jerky recipe & it was great.My family & I love it so much.But some of my friends comment that it has too strong wine taste & red beancurd taste as well.Therefore, may I know what brand of honey & chinese rice wine that you are using?? I intend to make it again to get perfect taste as yours bak kwa.Appreciat to receive your reply. Thank you.From Chang

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thanks for sharing this recipe...i am really tempted to try it..except that my oven minimum temperature is 170 degrees (it is those microwave cum convection oven) but i read that we have to bake the bak kwa at 160 degrees. is it okay to bake at 170 degrees but for a shorter time, say 15 mins?